


To Hunt A Dog

by One_Lucky_Shot



Category: RWBY
Genre: Blood and Injury, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Choices, Post-Volume 7 (RWBY)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22877551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/One_Lucky_Shot/pseuds/One_Lucky_Shot
Summary: Defecting and rescuing wrongfully arrested "criminals" isn't exactly easy, and Marrow knows that. Fighting against someone you trust, and wanted to be your friend? Even harder.Post-V7, Marrow Defecting AU
Relationships: Harriet Bree & Marrow Amin, James Ironwood & Marrow Amin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 74





	To Hunt A Dog

_"Go ahead, Winter. I'll hold her off."_

Marrow draws his weapon as he hears the shouts. He specifically chose this corridor because it's a little tighter than most, allowing Marrow a better space to dodge, and flip, and make use of his mobility. What he lacks in speed compared to Harriet, he makes up for in his dodging. He hears the crackle of Harriet's semblance, and she comes to a stop at the end of the corridor. In gun mode, Marrow raises it, but doesn't shoot.

"You know this is wrong, Harriet."

"You're betraying us! First the kids, Qrow, _Penny_ and now..." Harriet grits her teeth, her fist balling up into a fist. "Winter and _you_? Why?! We trusted you. _I_ trusted you!" She's screaming down the hallway, approaching in small steps. Her face is splitting apart in anger and despair, but more importantly, betrayal. The emotions struggle to be contained.

Marrow still doesn't shoot. He's only here to hold her off, and if he can achieve that with minimal combat, then it's even better. Vine and Elm, maybe even the General, will be far behind, thanks to Winter's glyphs. He just has to hold her off so Winter can free Qrow and Robyn, and arm them. That's all. He swallows, hating this conversation, and while it is definitely stalling, he is also trying to be honest and genuine.

"I don't mean to hurt you like this." Marrow pleads, lowering his gun. "But... Salem is _here_ and the General is still out for Team RWBY and JNR, when there is a bigger threat! Doesn't that worry you? How does this not concern you?!" He finds his hands shaking, and terror crossing his face. It gives Harriet pause. She listens as Marrow continues. "He killed a child, Harriet. A _14 year old boy._ " The terror morphs into horror. He had been so confused about what to do, and chose to trust the General, but there were limits.

"We have to trust the General, Marrow. It's what we've always done." Harriet's body crackles with electricity, her eyes glow.

"Things change."

Marrow lifts his weapon again, as quick as possible, firing a few shots as Harriet zips back and forth towards him. "I don't want to fight you!" He means it too.

Harriet makes a change in pattern, and Marrow picks up on it. He sees the punch coming, but knows he can't dodge it. As Harriet is getting closer, her fist poised for a punch, Marrow drops his weapon in the way instinctively. Her fist connects with it, allowing it to absorb the worst of the blow, but still has enough force to push through and send Marrow skidding back a few feet. It isn't her strongest punch. She's holding back.

"You've given me no choice." Harriet straightens up, rolling her shoulder.

"You always have a choice." Marrow shifts his weapon into a boomerang, but doesn't move to attack. " _We_ always have a choice to do the right thing. To be better."

Harriet shakes her head, sliding down, poised to attack. "We _are_ doing the right thing! We can't save anyone if we all die here." She shifts, and Marrow moves instantly. Her blow hits air as Marrow flips into the air, spinning round and throwing out his boomerang, slamming into her back. He catches it on the rebound. She recovers quickly, closing the gap as Marrow lands. He spins his boomerang to deflect the hit, but it never comes. She's dashed around, and slams a foot into Marrow's back, hitting him into a wall, his weapon clattering to the ground. He uses the wall to balance himself, his gaze shifting to Harriet.

"I get it. But we also can't save anyone if our priorities are skewed. Why focus on the arrests? I know I helped, but it was a mistake. I should have realised it was wrong then. Those kids... they have wanted nothing more than to help the people. Something that _we_ should be doing too." Marrow moves towards his weapon, but Harriet moves way quicker and unleashes a flurry of punches into Marrow, that he can't protect. When she lets up, his aura flickers, and he slides down the wall.

Harriet watches Marrow, as his eyes flutter, before shutting. She takes a moment to press her fingers to his neck, just to check he's alive. Once satisfied, she grabs her scroll, and starts ringing the General, who picks up immediately. "Sir, I've caught Marrow and I'm just away to detain him. Winter is-" Harriet's eyes glance, and she sees Marrow moving. "Marro-"

 _"Stay."_ Marrow says, clicking his fingers and pointing at Harriet. He feels it strain his aura, knowing he barely has any left. He remains still for a moment, and hears the shout from the scroll.

"Marrow, you are under arrest. Please do not resist, or else Harriet may be forced to harm you further." The General is curt and to the point. Harriet is still frozen, her hand gripped around the scroll. He swears he sees her eyes glow though.

"Sir, I can't do that. I know you're not a bad person. But neither are Qrow, Robyn, and any of those kids."

"Then you leave me no choice."

"Just like I told Harriet, we always have a choice." Marrow doesn't bother listening to it anymore, and he leaps for his weapon, letting his semblance drop from Harriet. He grips the boomerang, rolling out of the way, and to his feet. He hears the footsteps first, and then the crackle of Harriet's semblance. It basically counters the slowed effect, but it does give Marrow the time to cartwheel backwards from the kick that almost hits him in the face. He lands on his feet, as she hits the ground with her foot, slowly returning to full speed.

He doesn't have another use of his semblance in him. His aura only has enough for one good hit. He hopes Winter has gotten Qrow and Robyn out of jail, because he doesn't think he can hold Harriet off for much longer.

Harriet turns the kick into a run, and her next hit is blocked by the boomerang. She turns it into a second flurry of blows, some hitting his weapon, others breaking through his weak defense and chipping away at his aura. As the flurry slows, Marrow swings at Harriet's head, only to miss as she ducks. His eyes flicker down, and both of her hands are pulled back. Her weapon configures briefly, and Marrow's eyes widen, knowing how much this is going to hurt. The sliver of aura he has left isn't going to block much of this.

Her fists slam into his chest, and immediately Marrow's aura glows pale blue, and shatters into sparkles. His breath is stolen as he gasps sharply, and is launched three dozen feet down the hall. He lands with a hard slam, wrenching a pained yelp from him as he slides a little further, and finally stops. He shifts onto his elbows, his eyes locking with Harriet's. His hand tightens on his weapon, and she steps back. She remains silent, waiting for his move.

He winces as he tries to sit up properly, and begins coughing. Blood dribbles down his chin, and onto the floor. That doesn't stop him though. Nothing is going to stop him as he clambers to his feet, and wipes the blood on the back of his sleeve. His look has shifted from fear, desperate and concern. His eyes are soft, but fierce. His posture, while slumped a little, is protective and determined.

Harriet has never seen Marrow with such a look. But it's a look she knows what to call. The look of a true Huntsman.

The ex-partners stare each other down. Harriet knows Marrow isn't going to just give up from that look, and it scares her. She doesn't want to hurt him. Sure, she feels betrayed, angry and upset... but he's her partner, despite how brief it has been. But she also has her orders. If she can just prove that taking blows while his aura is down is a bad idea, maybe he'll give up.

Marrow is more determined than ever before now though. They all had a choice, and they made their decisions. That has become clear to Marrow. Maybe they'll change their minds, but for now, he knows what he has to do.

"Don't fight, Marrow. You'll just get hurt more." Harriet warns. She doesn't move to close the distance though - she does, however, lower her body, ready to run at Marrow if she has to.

Marrow's breath is raspy, and clearly some damage was done from that last hit, but he pushes the pain out of his mind. The adrenaline is running through his body. "Sorry, Harriet. But I have to fight."

She sighs, and immediately dashes with her speed towards him. Marrow leans down, throwing his boomerang low to the ground, and with her speed, she can't react instantly. It clips her in the legs, and she falls forward, crashing into the floor as the boomerang returns to Marrow. He holds it in front of him, going on the attack, and leaps towards her. Harriet is getting back to her feet when she sees him, and lifts an arm to block the weapon. Her right hand goes for a punch, but she hesitates. It gives Marrow the perfect chance raise his foot and kick her in the chest, sliding her back a little.

Instantly, he tosses out his boomerang the short distance, forcing Harriet to raise her arms to protect her face. It bounces off, going to the side, and as she lowers her guard, and sees Marrow running at her, fist ready. It connects with her cheek, but is no where near as strong as her own, and just makes her stumble. He attempts to keep forcing her back, but she dodges to the side.

_"Sorry."_

That's all Marrow hears from Harriet before a weapon-enforced punch connects with his face. He's almost certain something cracked. He slams into the wall at his side, causing pain to ache through his chest and back. He remains on his feet, but slumps a little, using the wall to support himself. Blood starts dripping from his nose, leaving drops on the floor, and his uniform. His breathing is incredibly laboured, and Harriet thinks that it must be over.

"Marrow, please, _don't_."

He finds himself coughing again, blood coming up from his mouth, and more blood from his nose. As he stops coughing into his arm, he looks up. His face looks like a crime scene. His sleeve is clarted in blood, and his uniform will probably never return to white now. Not that it matters honestly. The General will never trust Marrow again.

Harriet sighs to herself, seeing the look on his face. She reaches for the restraints, and holds them at the ready. She has to get him the next time or else she could actually be forced into incapacitating him, and potentially permanently injuring him. Marrow's eyes glance to it, and she slowly moves forward, as if testing the waters to see if he'll let her restrain him. The two lock eyes as she moves closer, almost expecting him to attack.

It happens swiftly, with Marrow lunging for the restraints, and throwing them as far as he can. Harriet goes wide-eyed, as she finds herself shoved in a moment of shock. Marrow runs, leaning down to grab his weapon from the floor, and going into a sprint. Harriet glances after him, and instantly dashes after him way faster than he could ever run. Knocking him out is her goal, without doing any serious damage. Her hand grabs the back of his uniform, and pulls him back and down, slamming him into the floor, making him give a pained gasp.

A bolt flies past her face, and her eyes lock onto the figures of Qrow, Robyn and Winter at the end of the hall. Robyn speaks up. "That's enough."

A small crackle, and Harriet backs up from Marrow, to put distance between her and the trio. Between Qrow and Robyn both aiming at her, she suspects that maybe she shouldn't pick this fight. Her eyes lock onto the bloodied pin sitting on Qrow's chest, and she feels a tug at her heart strings that she tries her best to ignore, and her eyes glance to Marrow. He said it didn't sound right about Qrow killing Clover, and Winter backed him up. But Harbinger is in front of her now, and it's covered in Clover's blood still. And she'd be mad, if only she couldn't see how Qrow's hand shook, even from a distance. This isn't a guilty man, even she can tell that much. It is a look of a man in mourning.

"I would like no one else to die today." Qrow may be speaking to Harriet, but his eyes are looking to Marrow, which reveals the true nature of that sentence. It isn't a threat. It's concern for the faunus who is breathing oddly. No one moves despite his words though, and Harriet glances back a little as she hears people approaching. Elm and Vine, and probably the General are coming.

"I can't win this." She backs up further, leaning down to retrieve her scroll, and the restraints. She doesn't turn her back though.

Qrow moves instantly, quickly telling Winter to remain behind Robyn, where she can be safe. Robyn keeps her weapon trained on Harriet, daring her to take the chance at attacking. She doesn't though. She remains at a distance as she watches Qrow gently pick up Marrow, and she gasps inwardly as the sound of pain he makes. She hadn't meant to injure him so much. She was just trying to stop him, and ensure he didn't make things worse for himself when he was arrested. Instead, she had made it worse already.

She doesn't move when they turn and run. She doesn't move when her team arrives, and check her for injuries. She only moves when her General arrives. She falls back into her place.

"Sorry Sir, I couldn't stop them."

Winter's scroll is still working properly for now, thankfully, and she uses it to call her sister, hoping she'll pick up quickly. While their side of it can't use their scrolls, it doesn't stop Winter's from getting through, and connecting when Weiss answers. "Winter?" comes a confused reply, and there's movements, and a couple of confused 'what?'s from the other end. Weiss seems to shush them all, and continues speaking. "Why... are you calling?"

"We need Jaune!" Qrow says before Winter can even have a chance to speak. There's gasps, and the sound of quick footsteps. There's a loud 'HEY!' from Weiss as she gets a little quieter.

"Uncle Qrow?" Ruby and Yang both speak together. Ruby is who continues talking though. "Where are you? If you're with Winter, then you must be in Atlas now, right?"

"Hopefully not for much longer, James is probably pissed because Winter and Marrow defected." Qrow explains, knowing a little information since Winter freed them. He and Robyn were roughly caught up, as best as they could be. They wouldn't tell the others about Oscar yet though. "Where can we meet you? We need Jaune, like--"

"I'll... be okay." Marrow chuckles in Qrow's arms, way too quiet for the scroll to pick up. He's fading in and out now. The adrenaline of the fight has worn off, and the effects of his aura shattering are catching up with him.

"Please tell me you're close."

Qrow slides to a stop, looking out the window. Robyn takes the scroll from Winter, who is slowly feeling the effects of running around so much, and supports her against her side. "We're near the dorms now, that large window before the cafeteria." Winter speaks up, glad inwardly for the help. She'd probably thank Robyn properly later.

"On it!" Yang shouts, and there's more movement. They wait patiently, hoping that none of the Atlas military comes this way, and all three, since Marrow is now unconscious, feel a rush of relief as they see the shuttle. Robyn doesn't think twice about smashing the window, and helps Winter up first, with Yang assisting on the other side. Robyn hops over, before reaching over to take Marrow from Qrow. She hears the gasps from the kids behind her as they see the injuries on his face. Qrow hops over quickly, and then they're out of there in the next moment.

Immediately, Qrow is embraced by his two nieces, while Robyn is gently lowering Marrow down. "Jaune?" She looks up, hoping said Jaune will step forward, and he does. He's staring at the faunus, eyes wide. His eyes shift to Weiss, briefly, and then he takes a deep breath and kneels. His hands hover for a moment, before he takes another deep breath, and starts channelling his aura towards Marrow. The shuttle seems to fall silent as they wait. They don't see any injuries heal, not immediately. Qrow has stopped his nieces so he can make sure Marrow is okay. The faunus almost died for him and Robyn to escape after all.

Marrow takes a shuddery breath, and his eyes slowly open and he stares at Jaune, taking a moment to realise he's actually okay - well, overstatement, but his internal injuries are healing at least. "I'm okay?"

"You're okay." Jaune smiles, glad to see the faunus awake now. There's a loud cheer from everyone, and despite the despairing situation, they didn't lose someone else. Marrow will be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this on one of the Fair Game servers (where we love and appreciate Marrow) when I was supposed to be writing a DIFFERENT Marrow fic.
> 
> Yeah, I'm a disaster. Please leave kudos and comment if you enjoyed, that'd be great <3 No plans to add to this.


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